


Ash Stained Hands and Face

by Balthazar_Gabriel_Castiel



Series: Stained with Ash [2]
Category: Avengers: Infinity War - Fandom, Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst, Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie) Spoilers, Crying, Everyone Needs A Hug, Father-Son Relationship, Gen, Harley and Peter bonding like children of Tony Stark should, Ignoring Tony Stark/Pepper Potts because I don't ship that way, POV Peter Parker, Panic Attacks, Parent Tony Stark, Peter Parker Gets a Hug, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Spoilers, Tears, That Scene in Avengers Infinity War, Titan, Wakanda
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-30
Updated: 2018-04-30
Packaged: 2019-04-30 09:13:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,509
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14493684
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Balthazar_Gabriel_Castiel/pseuds/Balthazar_Gabriel_Castiel
Summary: SPOILERS!! If you have NOT seen Avenger: Infinity War, DO NOT READ THIS FIC!!!When Peter Parker and Tony Stark went into space in order to stop the alien invasion, Peter did not expect this to be the outcome.A/N: See inside for full summary in order to avoid spoilers. The panic attack tag is for one sentence close to the end of this fic.





	Ash Stained Hands and Face

**Author's Note:**

> When Peter Parker and Tony Stark went into space in order to stop the alien invasion, they did not expect this to be the outcome. Peter did not expect to see someone he considered his unofficial father to die in his arms. He did not expect Tony, genius, engineer and larger than life Tony Stark, to turn into dust in his arms and stain his hands forever.
> 
> Peter knew he’d most likely outlive Tony, be just didn’t expect it to be that soon.
> 
> -
> 
> A/N: This is an alternate fic to the fix it fic that I made because of the ending of Infinity War. I saw it on Thursday and have only just recovered. There will be no romantic pairing besides Happy/Pepper.

Tony knew what was going to happen to him long before anyone else knew of his fate. It started with the woman with the antena (Mantis?) turning to ash, closely followed by Drax and Quill, also becoming dust.

Before Strange even looked towards him, Tony could feel his body lightening as his awareness of the area around him started to drift. A knowing look was sent shared between the genius and the doctor.

“There was no other way.” Strange sighed before he dissolved into ash. _Of course_ the sorcerer _knew_. Hadn’t Strange said earlier that he’d seen over 14 million possibilities, only one of which they’d succeeded in?  _Of course this was the plan_.

“Mr Stark?” Peter called, worry colouring his voice as he looked around, trying to see why his Spider Senses were screaming at him.

Tony turned abruptly towards Peter and stumbled slightly, his limbs refused to cooperate with his instructions. “Peter.” Tony tried to walk towards the kid but was unable to stumble a few feet before he started to fall. He was stopped from hitting the ground by Peter’s arms. “I-I don’t feel so good, kid.”

“You’re alright, Mr Stark. You’re alright.” Peter said, trying desperately to keep his voice steady as he clung to Tony.

“I don’t want to go Pete. I don’t want to go.” Tony sobbed clutching Peter’s suit tightly. “I don’t want to leave you.”

“You won’t leave me.” Peter said, tears streaming down his face as he tried to stay strong for Tony. “You’ll always with me.”

Tony turned his face into Peter’s neck as his legs started to tingle and become numb, causing him to fall into Peter completely. Tony’s sudden dead weight caused Peter to fall into Tony and they both hit the ground, Tony’s back taking the brunt of the impact.

The tingling travelled from Tony’s legs to the rest of his body as his eyes desperately tried to memorise Peter’s face knowing that this would be the last time they saw each other. Tony could feel Death’s grip closing around his heart and he struggled to say what he needed to.

“Peter...Peter…” Tony gasped, gripping he kid’s hand. “I love you kid. I-I’m sorry.”

“I love you too Dad.” Peter whispered as he watched the intelligence and light that had always seemed to be carried in Tony’s eyes fade away and with a last breath, Tony also faded into ash.

“No. No! Dad!” Peter cried lifting his Ash stained hands to his face, covering his features and sobbing heavily. “Dad! Please don’t go. I’ve already lost Uncle Ben and my parents. I can’t lose you too! Dad!”

Peter’s sobs and pleas echoed across Titan as he cried over the place where Tony had died, there were no ashes left for Peter to take back to Earth to bury or scatter as they’d been dispersed by the Universe.

“He shouldn’t have died! My Dad shouldn’t have died. He’s lived through so much! Why couldn’t he have survived this battle? Why did you have to take him? What makes me so special so that I could survive?” Peter yelled into his hands, transferring the remaining ashes that had been Tony onto his face, staining his cheeks and forehead grey.

“The Universe will not answer you, no matter how much you beg it and want it to.” The blue skinned woman said, gazing at Peter’s hunched over body blankly, causing Peter to startle and look up. The grey ash staining his face made him look both older, and more battle weary, whilst also looking younger than what he was with his shining eyes.

Peter wiped the tears from his face and stood shakily, unable to tear his eyes away from the place where his _dad had died_. “There...there were people on Earth, fighting Thanos’ forces. We need to go back. I need to go back encase they need me to help them.”

The blue skinned woman looked ready to argue but something in Peter’s face must have caused her to change her mind so she nodded and stalked towards the spaceship that the Guardian’s had arrived on Titan in. “Lets go.”

***

Peter discovered that the blue skinned woman’s name was Nebula, but he kept to himself, he didn’t have the energy to talk or ramble like he normally would as his Dad’s last words echoed within his mind. Every time he heard them, he felt tears well in his eyes and occasionally a few fell down his stained face and dripped onto his stained hands.

When they arrived on Earth, it didn’t take Peter or Nebula long to realise that what had happened on Titan had also happened on Earth and around the rest of the Universe. The Avengers had failed.

Before heading to Wakanda where the battle had happened, Peter begged Nebula to visit Queens to see if his aunt had survived, but all he found was ash scattered around their apartment and a shaking phone call to Happy had also confirmed Pepper’s demise, but telling Happy that not only had he lost his girlfriend but also his long term boss turned friend had nearly broken the ex-boxer completely. The only thing holding him together at the moment was the knowledge that Peter was still alive.

After collecting Happy from the Avengers’ compound, Nebula and Peter headed to Wakanda where the main attack had occurred and where the Earth bound heros had been battling Thanos’ forces. When they arrived in the country, they found the nation in mourning over T’Challa’s death as well as all of the citizens that had died in the battle. It was there that Peter learned that Tony was the only original Avenger, besides Rhodey who only became an Avenger after Ultron, to be taken by the Infinity Gauntlet left Peter feeling furious. _Why did those that betrayed the trust of the public and his Dad get to live whilst the man that always fought for the public and acknowledged his mistakes have to die?_

Peter had almost snapped at the ex-Avengers but he’s noticed exactly how emotionally wrecked the other had been over everyone else’s death and decided to rant later on (if he ever got the chance) about exactly how the acts committed by the ex-Avengers during the ‘Civil War’ had damaged the physical and mental health of his Father.

It only took one look at Peter’s ash stained face and Happy’s slumped posture to confirm Rhodey’s greatest fear; that the man the Colonel had known since MIT hadn’t come back from space. Rhodey tried to wrack his brain as to the last thing he said to his best friend and blanked, his mind too busy spinning with grief over the loss of his best friend.

It was only when Peter, Happy and Rhodey were alone with each other for the first time did they completely break. They all held onto each other, falling to the floor, and cried, mourning for their lost friend, and in Peter’s case Father figure. All three of them remained knelt on the carpet, their heads on each other’s shoulders as they awkwardly held the men on either side of them. After that, it didn’t take long for the news of Tony’s death to spread to the ex-Avengers, hitting all of them hard as they all took private moments to remember the enthusiastic genius Ton had been before they’d left him in Siberia.

It was only after all of the physical injuries had been healed that Nebula, Peter, Rocket and the rest of those that fought Thanos’ forces started to plan on how to defeat the purple Titan once and for all.

After another team meeting with everyone that had survived the first battle, Peter received a phone call from F.R.I.D.A.Y. talking about a teen in Tennessee called Harley Keener who’d been left alone after his mother and sister had fallen victim to the Infinity Gauntlet. The A.I’s normally light and chirpy voice was heavy and flat, the news of her creator’s death had also hit F.R.I.D.A.Y., DUM-E, U and Butterfingers hard. It wasn’t like Afghanistan where there was the chance of Tony coming back which had kept the bots hopeful throughout the ordeal, this time there was no way that Tony could come back from this. Leaving the A.I’s to learn how to cope with the grief. Peter vowed that if there was no way to bring Tony back, he would be the one to help the A.I’s learn how to go without their creator for the rest of their lives.

Peter had almost begged Shuri to allow him to take the Quinjet that the ex-Avengers had used to fly him to Tennessee to meet Harley and tell him the news about Tony in person, instead of hearing about the billionaire’s death over the phone. But as soon as Peter descended the ramp of the Quinjet, getting his first real glimpse at the other teenager that had affected Tony’s life so much, Peter could see Harley’s eyes filling up with tears as Harley realised that Tony had not survived.

Peter also felt himself tear up as he rushed over to Harley and pulled him into a hug, allowing the other teen to cry onto his shoulder for as long as necessary. Only after Harley had finished did Peter pull back from the embrace and handed Harley some tissues. “Come on, Wakanda is willing to house you for as long as you need. I’ll tell you what happened to Mr Stark if you want to know.”

Harley nodded. “Let me pack some of my things and I’ll come with you.” He sniffed and looked Peter in the eye. “I want to hear about space and...and how Tony died, but only if you’re comfortable with telling me.” With that Harley turned and walked back into the house, gesturing for Peter to follow him inside and asking him to help pack.

***

It took a few hours for Harley and Peter to pack all of the things that Harley needed or wanted to bring with him to Wakanda; including, oddly enough a Dora the Explorer watch and in response to Peter’s confused glanced, Harley muttered something about his sister and a long story so Peter dropped the subject and continued to help with the packing. It also took them more than a couple of hours to head to Wakanda and during that time Peter gathered the strength to tell Harley how he’d met his Father figure, how he’d ended up in space, what exactly happened on Titan and finally the details on Tony’s death. It was only when they had started flying over Africa did the subject of Peter’s hands and face come up.

“They were-are the remnants of Mr Stark. When he died, Mr Stark became ash, staining my hands and the reason my face is also stained is because I cried into my hands only a few seconds after Mr Stark died, so it stained my face as well as my hand. So now, whenever I look at my hands or see my face in a reflective surface, all I can see is Mr Stark dying and fading into dust and all I can hear is Mr Stark telling me he _loves me_ and that he’s _sorry_ for dying in front of me.” Peter sniffed, wiping his face of the tears that had silently slid down his face, only looking up sharply when Harley wrapped an arm around him.

“I’m sorry I asked.” Harley said looking at Peter. They both stayed silent until Harley once again spoke up. “Let me tell you about how I met the Mechanic before we land in Wakanda. It all started when Tony shows up in my garage, trying to pull glass out of his forearm with a pair of pliers…”

***

It had taken blood, sweat, tears, begging and bargaining with Lady Death herself along with Nebula using the Infinity Gauntlet to bring Thanos down. Permanently.

When Nebula has used the Gauntlet, everyone that died during Thanos’ conquest had been returned, free from the soul stone that they’d been trapped in with Gamora who’d immediately run to Nebula and pulled her into a hug.

Peter had been swept away from the crowd of people that had been bought back by Aunt May who’d hugged him so fiercely and with such strength that Peter could feel his bones popping and his joints creaking in protest. All around him, Peter could hear the tearful reunions and cries of joy; it was almost too intense for Peter with his enhanced senses but all of the noise surrounding him faded away as soon as he heard the voice he’d been longing to hear for months, after finding out there was a way to bring back the people they’d lost during the first encounter with the Mad Titan, originating from behind him.

“Hey kid.”

“D-Mr Stark!” Peter cried, rushing to hug Tony tightly and burying his face into Tony’s neck.

“It’s okay Pete, I’m home son.” Tony whispered wrapping an arm around Peter’s shoulders and his other hand snuck up into Peter’s hair. “I’m not going anywhere. Not for a while at least.”

“I lost you once Dad...I don’t think I can do it again.” Peter sobbed, not caring if he was staining the under armour that Tony was wearing from when they’d battled on Titan together. Peter felt the hand that was in his hair drop to his shoulder and he was pushed away to be held at arm's length. Allowing Tony to study Peter’s ash stained hands and face.

“What’s this?” Tony asked, a calloused hand brushing the grey stains on Peter’s face.

“That’s the ash that you became when you died.” Peter explained, wringing his hands together nervously but was unable to look at them. “You became ash on my hands which I transferred onto my face by accident. I haven’t been able to get it off. Whenever I look at my hands or myself in the mirror...all I could think about was you dying.” His voice hitched and broke, his breath speeding up as he worked himself into a panic attack.

“Pete, it’s okay. Breath with me. In and out, good Pete, that’s really good.” Tony soothed, calming his son down until he was breathing normally.

“Thanks Dad. There’s someone who has been wanting to see you as soon as they heard there was a way to possibly bring you back. He’s from Tennessee, I’m sure you know of him.”

“It’s Harley isn’t it?” Tony asked chuckling, just imagining what the pair of them had been up to was enough to give Tony some joy after the ordeal he’d just been through. “Both of you teens have bonded haven’t you?”

“We’ve also bonded with Shuri. She’s really cool. I can’t wait to tell you about our lab adventures.”

“I’m sure there will be lots of time to tell me all about them. But first, where’s Harley?”


End file.
